SAF budget approved, SHH club denied

The Committee on Academic Programs announced at the Student Government general body meeting on Wednesday, April 10 that a few changes which will be made to the attendance and absence policies.

CAP chair, Chris Fisher, presented the updated policies, stating the committee had been discussing “changing some of the language” in the current policies.

Fisher gives policy update. (Janika Berridge / Photo Assistant)

Quite simply, students are expected to attend classes and let professors know when they will not be in class. On the other hand, it is also the responsibility of the professor to have an attendance policy clearly stated in the syllabus.

The absence policy is more detailed, he explained, mostly due to specifications of extended absences.

Fisher discussed the three main reasons for an excused absence.

“The first, of course, is absence due to an extended issue, for whatever reason,” Fisher said. “There are, of course, absences due to religious observances. And absences you may have for some official event related to the institution.”

In the policy, CAP outlined the roles of not only the student and professor, but also that of Records and Registration. Once Records and Registration becomes informed of a student’s extended absence, they will inform the student’s academic advisor, instructor and the dean for that student.

“That is not the office of records and registration validating the authenticity of why you might be absent,” Fisher said. “It is simply making sure that everyone is in the loop.”

To validate an absence, a student has to report the absence in a timely manner and it will then be decided if the student can make up the work depending on the type of course.

The executive director of the Student Finance Board, Lindsay Klein, presented the SAF budget for the 2014 fiscal year for SG’s approval.

The budget was broken down, showing the changes in the budget from last year to this year, for costs of programs, chapter dues, retreats, Loop Bus, intramurals and many other programs and services.

“Every year, we were originally promised a three percent inflation rate … This year we were told that were not guaranteed that three percent increase,” Klein said. “Now we kind of have to use the money that we also used last year to cover last year’s costs to cover the increased costs this year.”

SG voted on and passed the SAF 2014 budget.

Two clubs presented for SG recognition. Net Impact is a club that encourages entrepreneurship and making a positive difference on social and environmental issues through business. SG saw no weaknesses in this club and passed it without moving to debate.

Students Helping Honduras was the other club to present. Their goal is to help improve the lives of children in Honduras through fundraising.

SG found weaknesses in their lack of concrete implementation of ideas for fundraising. Some of their ideas included organizing a 5K run and a soccer tournament. Several members of SG stressed their concerns about the club’s ideas for fundraising, stating that 5Ks are often very difficult to organize.

Both representatives at the meeting had chapters in their high schools and the club is said to have already over 50 people who signed the charter member list.

SG motioned to move into debate for SHH. Devin Dimmig of governmental affairs stated GA had serious concerns when the club presented to them, and that it was ultimately her vote that brought them before SG for final approval. She also said that the purpose of GA is to filter out weaker clubs, which therefore leads to less debate once the clubs reach SG.

The club representatives said they also plan to fundraise for trips to Honduras, but that the fundraising money for such trips would be acquired individually.

One member of SG said they do not need to have the club status to go to Honduras or help out, while others were concerned that the club had not already begun to become involved with other clubs, promoting their cause.

“I don’t think this club needs our approval just yet. I think they would benefit from co-sponsoring with other organizations that have expertise programming on this campus and fundraising,” said Annie Montero, vice president for student services. “They can do that without our approval.”

The committee for governmental affairs had a tie in their vote to approve SHH. SG voted to break the tie, but voted the club down.

The writings on the wall were supposed to take place this week, however since there were events held on campus last weekend where young children would be present, SG thought it would be in everyone’s best interest to postpone it to this upcoming weekend.

SG announced that Parents/Family Day will no longer fall on the same day as homecoming. Instead it will be on the same day as Community Fest.